Curated category
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
- J. R. R. TolkienJohn Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born on the 3rd of January 1892 in Bloemfontein, Orange Free State. His father Arthur worked as a bank manager for the British…
- Elton JohnOn the 25th of March 1947, Reginald Kenneth Dwight entered the world in Pinner, Middlesex. His father served in the Royal Air Force and his mother worked as…
- Ian McKellenIan Murray McKellen was born on the 25th of May 1939 in Burnley, Lancashire. His family moved to Wigan when he was four months old, just before the Second…
- Christopher NolanChristopher Edward Nolan was born on the 30th of July 1970 in Westminster, London. His father Brendan James Nolan worked as a creative director for an…
- Michael CaineMaurice Joseph Micklewhite was born on the 14th of March 1933 at St Olave's Hospital in the Rotherhithe district of London.
- Tom HardyEdward Thomas Hardy was born in Hammersmith, London, on the 15th of September 1977. He grew up as the only child of Anne Barrett and Edward Chips Hardy.
- Kate BushKate Bush was born on the 30th of July 1958 at a maternity hospital in Bexleyheath, Kent. Her father Robert Bush worked as an English doctor and her mother…
- Benedict CumberbatchBenedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch entered the world on the 19th of July 1976 at Queen Charlotte's Hospital in Hammersmith, London.
- Jonathan PryceJohn Price was born on the 1st of June 1947 in Carmel, Flintshire. His father Isaac worked as a coal miner before running a small grocery shop with his wife…
- Arthur C. ClarkeArthur Charles Clarke was born on the 16th of December 1917 in Minehead, Somerset. He grew up nearby at Bishops Lydeard where he lived on a farm.
- Eric ClaptonEric Patrick Clapton was born on the 30th of March 1945 in Ripley, Surrey. His mother Patricia Molly Clapton was only sixteen years old when he arrived into…
- Stanley SadieStanley John Sadie entered the world on the 30th of October 1930 in Wembley. He attended St Paul's School in London before studying music privately for three…
- Alec GuinnessAlec Guinness de Cuffe entered the world at 155 Lauderdale Mansions South in Maida Vale, London, on the 2nd of April 1914.
- David LeanDavid Lean was born on the 25th of March 1908 at 38 Blenheim Crescent in South Croydon, Surrey. His parents were Quakers who sent him to the Leighton Park…
- Nicholas CraftsNicholas Francis Robert Crafts entered the world on the 9th of March 1949 in Nottingham, England. He attended Brunts Grammar School in Mansfield before…
- George MartinGeorge Henry Martin entered the world on the 3rd of January 1926 in North London. His family lived modestly in Highbury and later Drayton Park before moving…
- Alexander McQueenLee Alexander McQueen was born on the 17th of March 1969 at University Hospital Lewisham in Lewisham, London. He grew up as the youngest of six children to…
- William DalrympleWilliam Benedict Hamilton-Dalrymple entered the world on the 20th of March 1965 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was the youngest of four sons born to Major Sir…
- Stephen HawkingStephen William Hawking was born on the 8th of January 1942 in Oxford to Frank and Isobel Eileen Hawking. His mother came from a family of doctors in Glasgow…
- Tom StoppardOn the 15th of March 1939, the day Nazi forces invaded Czechoslovakia, a five-year-old boy named Tomáš Sträussler fled his hometown of Zlín with his mother…
- Demis HassabisDemis Hassabis was born on the 27th of July 1976 in North London. He began playing chess at the age of four and reached a master standard by thirteen.
- Petula ClarkSally Clark entered the world on the 15th of November 1932 in Ewell, Surrey. Her parents worked as nurses at Long Grove Hospital in Epsom.
- Peter Blake (artist)Peter Blake was born on the 25th of June 1932 in Dartford, Kent. He began his formal training at the Gravesend Technical College school of art before moving…
- Eric BlomEric Walter Blom arrived in Bern, Switzerland on the 20th of August 1888. His father carried Danish and British blood while his mother was Swiss.
- David AttenboroughDavid Frederick Attenborough was born on the 8th of May 1926 in Isleworth, Middlesex. He grew up in College House on the campus of University College…
- Edwin MuirEdwin Muir was born on the 15th of May 1887 at the farm of Folly in Deerness, Orkney. His childhood there represented an idyllic Eden to him.
- Rayner UnwinIn 1936, a ten-year-old boy named Rayner Unwin sat at his father's desk in Hampstead, London. He held a manuscript titled The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.
- Philip LarkinPhilip Arthur Larkin was born on the 9th of August 1922 at 2 Poultney Road in the Radford district of Coventry. He grew up as the only son and younger child…
- David StarkeyDavid Robert Starkey arrived in the world on the 3rd of January 1945 within the quiet town of Kendal, Westmorland. He was the only child born to Quaker…
- Philippa GregoryPhilippa Gregory entered the world on the 9th of January 1954 in Nairobi. The city served as the capital of the Colony and Protectorate of Kenya at that time.
- John BoormanJohn Boorman was born on the 18th of January 1933 in Shepperton, Middlesex. His father George Boorman served as a captain in the British Indian Army during…
- Naomi MitchisonNaomi Mary Margaret Haldane entered the world on the 1st of November 1897 in Edinburgh. Her father was John Scott Haldane, a prominent physiologist who…
- Frederick CoplestonFrederick Charles Copleston was born on the 10th of April 1907 at Claremont in the parish of Trull, near Taunton in Somerset.
- Correlli BarnettCorrelli Douglas Barnett was born on the 28th of June 1927 in Norbury, County Borough of Croydon. He grew up as the son of Douglas and Kathleen Barnett.
- Simon CallowOn the 15th of June 1949, a boy named Simon Phillip Hugh Callow entered the world in Streatham, South London. His father was Neil Francis Callow, a…
- Martin GilbertMartin Gilbert was born in London on the 25th of October 1936. His family name was originally Goldberg before his father Peter changed it to Gilbert.